South African govt. criticises Trump’s refugee policy favouring white group
INTERNATIONAL – USA
3 NOVEMBER 2025
- South Africa’s government has criticised the U.S. refugee policy shift that gives priority to Afrikaners, the country’s white minority group of Dutch descent who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.
- Until 1994, Afrikaners dominated South Africa’s politics as well as the country’s commercial and agricultural sector.
- The Trump administration announced a ceiling of 7,500 refugees to be admitted to the United States, a sharp decrease from the previous 125,000 spots and said Afrikaners would be given preference over other groups.
- U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that there is a white “genocide” against Afrikaners in South Africa and that they are facing persecution and discrimination because of the country’s redress policies and the levels of crime in the country.
- It’s one of the contentious issues that has seen diplomatic relations between South Africa and U.S. hit an all-time low, with Mr. Trump suspending all financial aid to South Africa and setting one of the highest tariffs for the country’s exports to the U.S.
- Mr. Trump’s asylum offer for Afrikaners has sparked divisive debate in South Africa, but has been largely rejected even by many in the Afrikaner community.
- A group of prominent Afrikaners including politicians, activists, writers and businesspeople penned an open letter rejecting the notion that Afrikaners needed to emigrate from South Africa.
- “The idea that white South Africans deserve special asylum status because of their race undermines the very principles of the refugee programme. Vulnerability — not race — should guide humanitarian policy,” they wrote in the widely publicised letter.
- Influenced by Elon Musk and misinformation from right-wing social media accounts, President Trump declared Afrikaners a priority, with 100 potential “refugees” already identified.
